“Because of their arrogance and pretended superiority, the Americans invaded Iraq to kill Saddam Hussein but ended up destroying the country. We don’t want that to happen to us. I don’t like their presence here.”
By Germelina A. Lacorte
Davao Today
DAVAO CITY — Mayor Rodrigo Duterte has turned down a Malacanang proposal to hold the next joint US-Philippine military Balikatan exercises in the city, saying American troops are not welcome in Davao.
“I don’t want American soldiers in my city,” Duterte told a joint city and regional peace and order council meeting Wednesday. “Preferably, I don’t want American soldiers in the region.
Duterte said he got a call from a Malacanang top official recently on the possibility of holding the next Balikatan exercises here. I have full faith and confidence in the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police,” he said. Why should we allow the Americans to come when our soldiers can do the job?
During the meeting, the police laid down what it claimed were declining crime statistics in the city but said that the Communist New Peoples Army (NPA) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) remain the gravest threat to the peace and order stability in the region.
But Duterte said that an “unspoken truce” between his government and the Communist guerillas has left the city relatively peaceful for years. It does not mean he is “surrendering” to the Communists, he said, but the government cannot afford to go on an all-out war against the rebels.
He said the presence of American troops here will serve as magnet for armed groups hostile to the United States, including terrorists.
“The presence of American troops here will unnecessarily heat up the city,” Duterte said. “Ang mahirap dito sa Americans, mainit sa JI (Jemaah Islamiyah) at sa NPA (New People’s Army). We don’t need the might of the United States of America, except maybe for their technical support.”
He said his anti-American stance had nothing to do with his earlier brush with Michael Meiring, an American who was allegedly behind a hotel bombing here but was whisked away by the US Federal Bureau of Investigations.
“Because of their arrogance and pretended superiority, the Americans invaded Iraq to kill Saddam Hussein but ended up destroying the country,” he said. “We don’t want that to happen to us. I don’t like their presence here.”
Duterte, who heads the Regional Peace and Order Council, refused, however, to make an anti-Balikatan declaration for the whole region, saying he has to wait for newly elected mayors and governors in the region to decide.
Angela Librado, a Davao City councilor, suggested that Duterte call for a resolution from the peace and order council declaring a stand against Balikatan because whatever happens in the surrounding areas of Davao from the joint military exercises will also affect the city.
“Let’s wait for new governors and newly elected mayors to decide when the time comes because some of our people still love the Americans,” Duterte said. “I’m not one of them.” (Germelina Lacorte/davaotoday.com)
